Boil Time?

Early on in my brewing, a 1 hour boil was what we employed. But after some time, and having a friend who was a professional brewer (attended the Siebel Institute), I was told that there is some magic that happens when doing a two hour boil. So that is what we did. But have not brewed in 10 years. My brewing experience spanned two decades prior.
What does everyone here use for a boil time? Why?

I use one hour because my hop utilization and brewhaus efficiency depend on the starting gravity and volume at a certain boil off rate to reach OG and volume into the FV taking into account the wort accompanying the trüb left in the kettle, etc.  It took trial and error to dial this in for predictable results. Basically I’d have to redo all my calculations so I just stick with the one hour I have programmed.

AKA: laziness.

I do 45 minute mash and boils to save time unless I do more of a specialty style. I have noticed no difference from a standard 60/60. I would personally never do a 120 minute boil but that’s not necessary for what I brew.

My brews will be European lagers, Czech and German Pils. With an occasional stout / porter.
I found a number of recipes that call for a 90 minute boil.
BTW…in 20 years of brewing, I never took any measurements. No idea on OG, or alcohol content.

I understand. Lots of folks don’t take measurements.

I’ve found since the early 90(s) if I can hit a certain OG and IBU I can reach a certain malt/hop profile I’m looking for. That way my malty beers aren’t too hoppy and vice versa.

Without measurements that predictability becomes more difficult for me. I figure if I don’t know where I’m going any road will do. …but I brew with a certain goal in mind so I need to know what road I’m on to get there.

Cheers!

With extracts you don’t necessarily have to boil at all.

My last 6 batches I have experimented with 30 minute mashes and 30 minute boils. Two of those were lagers and the results were quite satisfying with all of them. I’m getting ready to bottle a Belgian dark strong this evening and can’t wait to see how it turned out.

For me it depends partly on the beer style and final results I’m looking for, but in general at least 1 hour.  For beers where I’m looking for a slightly higher degree of wort caramelization (such as wee heavy, dark strong Belgian) it might be at least a 2-hour boil.  But in general for good hot break formation, and to allow for multiple hop additions and utilization, and to dial in to hit predicted volume, it’s at least one hour.  I know that not all subscribe to this process, and I’m sure that some folks boil less time and still make great beer.

I think there is certainly something freeing in not taking measurements! And as a homebrewer, it doesn’t ultimately matter (especially because you ain’t selling the stuff). For my part, I take basic measurements to: 1) keep an eye on efficiency, so that I can figure out if I need to adjust my grain mill or some aspect of my mash; and 2) to estimate my abv, so I can pace my consumption accordingly.

Back to the original topic, I usually do a 60 minute boil. I’ve done a few 30 minute boils recently (just to do the Brulosophy short-and-shoddy mode), and have rarely done 90 minute boils in the case of using undermodified specialty malts.

Same here, never owned/used a hydrometer.  All my beers are 5 ish ABV.
.44 to .50 pounds grain, per quart of total volume being fermented, gets an agreeable ABV for me.
3-4 weeks ferment, 4 weeks condition, boom good beer, as good or better than what can be bought.
I brew a 4.5 gallon batch at a minimum every 3 weeks, for about 2 years now. Brewing a stout as I
type this, awaiting boil to finish.  Don’t use any software, track everything with my own notes/spreadsheets.

I now do a 70 minute boil, first 10 minutes I let the foam do its thing, then start 60 minute hop schedule.
Why ? I dunno, following the herd on this one.

The majority of the time I do ~60 minutes, just cuz “that’s the way we do it”, and for what you’re planning on brewing 60 should be fine. I’ve never done shorter boils except with seltzers, and only go with longer boils when I want more caramelization, or more often to reduce post boil volume in order to raise O.G. without having to resort to adding sugars.

Wee Heavy was a single beer produced by Fowler’s in Scotland and not a style. Its proper name was Twelve Guinea Ale but referenced as a “wee” heavy in their advertising materials. It also needs to be pointed out that it is a myth that Scottish brewers used long boil times to caramelize the wort. Brewing records show that at times the Scots boil times were shorter than their London counterparts. At other times their boil schedules grew longer but overall Scottish boil times were no longer or shorter than any other brewery.

60 and 90 depending on what I’m brewing.  I’ve generally moved to 60 minutes @ about 4% boiloff.  My boils are more like a simmer vs the crazy boiloff that I used to do.

I don’t disagree with you, Kevin.  I used to do a 90 minute boil for everything but found that for most beers I can get away with 60 minutes…  This was discussed extensively in a previous thread about boil times and I eventually modified my procedure to reduce the time to 60 minutes.

That said, I started boiling my Wee Heavy for 2 hours and liked the flavor the additional caramelization that the extra 30 minutes gave to the beer.  But everyone has different techniques and what works for you is what you should keep doing.

30 minutes.

I did 90 minute boils when I first started and have it dialed in so I never felt the need to change.  Part of it definitely laziness though.  That said, at the brewery we do 60 minute boils.

http://www.bjcp.org/style/2015/17/17C/wee-heavy/

Also, see https://www.traquair.co.uk/brewery/ and scroll down to “How the Beer is Brewed”  It shows a “2 hour boil.”  Admittedly, 2 hours is not necessarily long enough to caramelize the wort very much.

Time marches on.

Mash/boil-60/60 min for ales.
Just did my first lager and did 60/90.

Incidentally, my ocd science brain is really stressed out by all ya’all not measuring og, fg etc…
It’s part of the fun/process of the whole thing.  My buddy who is an engineer, doesn’t measure either.  He just makes everything “work” the easiest way possible.  Doesn’t care about perfection.  Must not have any German DNA.  :grin:

Note that I did not say that wee heavy is not now a recognized style. I said it “was a single beer…” Past tense.

Traquair was and is a very small, provincial brewery. The fact remains that the written records of the major Scottish breweries show boil times of 60 to 120 minutes… most of the time. And in my original post I did said “at times” Scottish boil times were shorter. I also said that at other times they were longer.

If you want to boil your strong Scottish ale for 2 hours or more and call it wee heavy then by all means do so. Just recognize that there are some accepted practices when it comes to Scottish brewing that are pure myth.

Did you see Ron Pattinson’s talk at last year’s HomebrewCon? You are echoing what he said, without the F bombs.  8)